Mapping behavioral biases against mental triggers

By: Alex Mello Kraus.

The postgraduate course in Business Management with a Focus on Behavioral Skills, offered by the BBI of Chicago, addresses two subjects, among others, that are the focus of this work: Negotiation and Behavioral Finance. In both disciplines, we explore the psychological factors behind human decisions. According to Razuk (s.d.), our opinions and choices come from our intuition, most of the time. Psychological factors are called “Mental Triggers” in the Negotiation discipline and “Behavioral Biases” in the Behavioral Finance discipline.

 

As the financial market is a constant negotiation, the question arises: are mental triggers the same as behavioral biases? Therefore, the objective of this paper is to map all mental triggers and behavioral biases found in the course support materials, then compare them to discover if each mental trigger has at least one behavioral bias representation and vice-versa. This paper should encourage future studies to discuss whether there are new triggers or biases that can be used in the development and improvement of course materials.

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A study was made of all articles available in module 3 (bias applied to finance) of the behavioral finance discipline and in module 4 (influence triggers in negotiation) of the Negotiation discipline. Effects, laws, and principles were not considered, only those presented as “behavioral biases” and “mental triggers.”

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According to Razuk (s.d.) the behavioral biases are: 

1) Aversion to regret; 
 

2) Cognitive dissonance; 
 

3) Anchoring and judgment bias; 
 

4) Mental accounting bias; 
 

5) Overconfidence;

 

6) Representativeness; 
 

7) Conservatism; 
 

8) Availability bias; 
 

9) Retrospective bias; 
 

10) Excessive optimism; 
 

11) Self-attribution bias; 
 

12) Illusion of control; 
 

13) Self-control bias; 
 

14) Confirmation bias; 
 

15) Status quo bias.

 

According to Magalhães (n.d.), presented mental triggers are:

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A) Scarcity Trigger; 
 

B) Authority; 
 

C) Affection; 
 

D) Retribution; 
 

E) Social Proof; 
 

F) Commitment and consistency; 
 

G) Sleep trigger; 
 

H) Anchoring.
 

For each behavioral bias, a corresponding mental trigger was found. Results are presented by their respective indexes, in the format {Number; Letter}. When a corresponding relationship is not found, the “?” symbol will be used.

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{1;F} ; {2;?) ; {3;H) ; {4;?) ; {5;?) ; {6;?) ; {7;?) ; {8;?) ; {9;?) ; {10;?) ; {11;?) ; {12;?); {13;?) ; {14;D) ; {15;E);

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For each mental trigger, a corresponding behavioral bias was found. Results presented by their respective indexes, in the format {Letter; Number}. When a corresponding relationship is not found, the “?” symbol will be used.

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{A;?) ; {B;?) ; {C;?) ; {D;14) ; {E;15) ; {F;1) ; {G;?) ; {H;3);

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They couldn't find corresponding relationships between all biases and triggers. There are 4 out of 16 behavioral biases related to mental triggers, and 4 out of 8 mental triggers related to behavioral biases. Therefore, 12 biases and 4 triggers remain to be studied and discussed. Therefore, it is suggested to assess in further work whether the following behavioral biases cannot be considered and used as mental triggers and whether the following mental triggers cannot be used as behavioral biases.

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Behavioral Biases: 2; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13.

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Mental Triggers: A; B; C; G.

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BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

 

MAGALHÃES, João. Gatilhos em uma negociação de venda. Course: Gestão de Negócios com Foco em Competências Comportamentais, n.d.

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NASCIMENTO, Rodrigo. Gatilhos mentais: o que são e como aplicá-los nas vendas. Course: Gestão de Negócios com Foco em Competências Comportamentais, n.d.

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RAZUK, Ricardo.  Vieses Comportamentais Aplicado às Finanças. Course: Gestão de Negócios com Foco em Competências Comportamentais, n.d.

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